Scandals shake faith of Catholic donors

For decades, Michael Drweiga has opened his wallet whenever the donation basket comes around at church, but the latest revelations of priests sexually abusing children brought him to conclude that he can no longer justify giving.

Across the U.S., Catholics once faithful with their financial support to their churches are searching for ways to respond to the sexabuse scandals that have tarnished the institution in which they believe, with back-to-back scandals in the last two months.

The most recent came Tuesday when a grand jury report revealed that hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children in six dioceses since the 1940s — crimes that church leaders are accused of covering up.

The report came two months after Pope Francis ordered disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick removed from public ministry amid allegations the 88year-old retired archbishop sexually abused a teenage altar boy and engaged in sexual misconduct with adult seminarians decades ago. Last month, Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation as cardinal and ordered him to a “life of prayer and penance.”

The most recent “whopper of a report” from Pennsylvania, Drweiga said, was enough to make him wonder where his money was going and whether it was being used to cover up abuses.

“In an organization that spans the whole world like the Catholic Church, you don’t know where your money is going. And when you read about these priestabuse scandals it just raises that question to the highest power. What is this money going for?” said Drweiga, 63, who lives in Wilmette, Ill.

Calls to financially boycott the church are not new.

But Catholics face a delicate balance because some of the money that dioceses raise is shared with parishes, said Edward Peters, the Edmund Cardinal Szoka Chair at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

Tim Lennon, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said his group has fielded calls from Catholics who have pledged to stop giving to their church.

“It’s an action as opposed to just sitting here doing nothing,” he said, adding that it’s a symbolic gesture.